Google Helpful Content Update
Google’s recent Helpful Content Update has the potential to change the SEO world the way Panda did 11 years ago.
Read more
BLOG
Recent news & events
The Importance of Having Proper Meta Descriptions
An important part of your SEO strategy, the meta description is a description tag in HTML, that summarizes a webpage’s content.
Is Search Engine Submission Necessary in 2022?
The simple answer is no – search engine submission isn’t necessary. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do it. Every search engine today, whether it’s Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yandex, or any other, can crawl and index pages by following links. A single inbound link from any already-indexed page will identify your page to the engine and if…
What’s in my SEO Toolbox for 2022
Welcome to my 6th annual What’s in my SEO Toolbox post. If you’ve read this post in the past, you’ll note that there’s a lot of consistency with respect to my choices. There are two reasons for that. First, these are damn good tools and their developers keep improving them year after year. Second, as…
The Importance of Anchor Text in Links
It’s nearly 2022, and it’s hard to believe that this [still] needs to be said, but it does. BACKLINKS MATTER. Not just a little. A lot. And what matters more than the backlinks? The anchor text in that backlink. Yes, the search engines have gotten really good at understanding the text around your link, but…
Why doesn’t the page title on a Google SERP match what I wrote?
As an SEO, one of the things we know is that when we’re trying to get a page to rank for a keyword, the title of a page is one of the most important, if not the most important signal we can send to Google. It’s something we work hard at and there are certain…
Core Web Vitals Redefined. Slightly.
Don’t get all excited. Google has expanded their definition of acceptable scores in the Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console
Google’s “Passages” update is now live.
Google’s Passages Update is live, and if you don’t think it matters to you, you haven’t seen it work yet. Trust me.
Clarity: Yet another reason you should be using Bing Webmaster Tools
For anyone who really interested in the Customer Journey – not just how people find your website, but how they use it – Microsoft’s integration of Clarity with Bing Webmaster tools is a welcome step forward. Clarity allows website owners, administrators, and analysts, to see exactly what visitors are doing on their website without infringing…
Microsoft Clarity Setup Instructions
How to Set Up Microsoft Clarity Step One: Log into your Bing Webmaster Tools account. Step Two: From the dropdown list at the top left of your screen, select the website you’d like to set up. Once you’ve done that, click the Add button at the bottom left of the screen. Step Three: Accept the…
Winners and Losers in Google’s December Core Update
It’s been 5 days. What we know about Google’s December Core Update. At this point, we know a few things: The update to the core algorithm is still going on There have been major increases and drops among music related websites Health and Medical sites have seen major drops The early indicators are that the…
Google Rolls Out December 2020 Core Update
At 10:34 am yesterday, Google’s Search Liaison Danny Sullivan announced that the December 2020 Core Update – the 3rd update to Google’s core algorithm this year – would begin rolling out at 1:00 pm. As is typical, the update should take between 1 and 2 weeks to complete. The most recent data is that the…
Google’s November Surprises
November has brought with it a couple of significant announcements from Google. The first has to do with a major core algorithm update that’s planned for next year, and the other has to do with a minor tweak to the current algorithm. Both can have major implications for your website’s visibility on search engine result…
Brand Keywords vs Non-Brand Keywords
When most people think about SEO, they think about three things: keyword research, backlinks and content. And they’re right to do so – all three of those things are fundamental to creating a solid, successful organic search campaign. But what those same people rarely take into consideration is the distinction between Brand and Non-Brand keywords.
A Very Busy Month for Google
If you haven’t noticed, May has been a very busy month for Google. They have announced 2 significant updates – one that’s already happened and one that’s coming next year. The Update that’s already happened On May 4th, Danny Sullivan, Google’s public liaison for search (@searchliaison), announced the May 2020 Core Algorithm update: An announcement…
Should you optimize for keywords that don’t have any searches?
Like most things having to do with, SEO this isn’t a simple answer. My first question is, where are you getting your zero search volume results data from? With the exception of Bing, almost every keyword research tool out there provides you with data that’s pulled from Google Ads. What That’s decidedly different than being…
How long does a site link take to show on Google?
In Google’s world, a “site link” is a specific term that refers to additional links that show up under main organic listings.
Google Announces Florida 2 – A Broad Core Algorithm Update
Yesterday morning, Google confirmed via Danny Sullivan (aka @searchliaison) that there was a broad core update to its algorithm in progress. As with most search updates this one was preceded by some “tremors” (Feb 14th, Feb 22nd, Feb 27th, March 2nd, and March 6th) that were reported across the industry. This is the SERP volatility…
Hello. I’m Eric and I’m a Search Engine Optimization Professional. Nice to Meet You.
Over the last 15 years of being an SEO consultant, it’s been my experience that, after introducing yourself, you’re going to get one of four responses from the person you’ve just met. They’re either going to say: “I don’t know what that means. Can you explain it?” “We’re already working with someone.” “We hired an…
SEO Basics: Ordered List or Un-Ordered List?
Earlier today, a Client asked me the question, “Would you advise always using an ordered list [in content we create] vs. an un-ordered list. Well, no. I try to never use the word always when talking about SEO tactics. Most of the time, there are too many moving parts for me to make blanket statements…
What’s in my SEO Toolbox for 2019
Welcome to the 3rd annual What’s in my SEO Toolbox post. SEO is always interesting. It’s always changing. But 2019 has been a particularly interesting year with respect to SEO. How? Well besides the typical algorithmic changes by the search engines, Google switched from desktop indexing to mobile indexing. And then there’s voice search (Alexa,…
Google Expands Rich Results Widget with Question and Answer pages
As the world’s largest search engine, Google is used by people who are seeking information to all kinds of questions. Many of those questions are answered by Companies who publish answers to questions users have asked their customer service departments, but that’s not the only source of information. Often, the information users are looking for…
How to Upgrade Your Web Site to PHP 7.3
Most people think about a web site in terms of the creative design, or the content. That’s what you and your users see, but there’s much more going on behind the scenes. Your web site has to be hosted someplace and your hosting company uses a lot of hardware (web server, database server, media server,…
PHP Version 5.6 / 7.0 EOL Is Coming. Are You Ready?
If you’re running a WordPress web site you are going to want to mark December 31st on your calendar. And not for New Year’s Eve. Unless you’re someone who designs or develops WordPress web sites, I’ll bet you’ve never heard of PHP. That’s too bad, because PHP is really important to the performance of that…
How To Download Your Facebook Photos to Your Computer
Many of us shoot photos with our cellphones and/or digital cameras, and upload those photos right in to Facebook. It’s simple, easy and a kind of mindless way of storing all out pictures in one place. But what if we want to get them back to use or store someplace else? Sure, you could right-click…
Can you spin content into SEO gold?
Is it possible to use automated content creation to spin news headlines into SEO friendly content? It’s a serious question. This morning, I saw a tweet from a company I’d never heard of who offered me a free tool that did automated content creation. This tool, they promise, would automatically create SEO friendly articles on…
What’s in my SEO toolbox for 2018
It’s been nearly a year since I wrote the original version of this post. The one constant is that nothing in SEO is constant. Google updates it’s algorithms; they update their quality guidelines; they add and remove features on their SERPs. All of that means we are constantly having to re-evaluate the tools we use…
Google Updates PageSpeed Insights Tool
Have you noticed that, in the past, the speed measurements from Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool weren’t the same as GTMetrix or WebPageTest? Me too. The reason, among other things, is that Google’s testing tool wasn’t using the same technology as their own browser – Chrome. That just changed. Google announced that the PageSpeed Insights tool…
What’s in my SEO toolbox for 2017
Whether you’re a seasoned SEO professional, or a web site owner that’s trying to optimize your own site, there are a ton of SEO tools out there to choose from. Many are dedicated to doing just one thing well, and others offer a lot of different capabilities all bundled together. Some are free, some are…
Getting into the Google Answer Box
What’s better than a #1 organic position? Being in the Google Answer Box. What is the Google Answer Box? The Google Answer Box is a featured snippet that appears at the top of SERPs when Google is able to determine that searchers are looking for an answer to a question. In general, the Google Answer…
Google announces it’s effectively eliminating its desktop search index
It’s not going to happen immediately, but Google’s Gary Illyes made the announcement during a keynote address at Pubcon in Las Vegas. According to Illyes, “within months” Google is going to create a separate mobile index. This new index will be the main or “primary” index that the search engine uses to respond to queries.…
Google has officially launched the real-time Penguin
We knew Real-Time Panda was coming. We just didn’t know when. Just a short time ago Gary Illyes, part of the Google Search Ranking Team, as well as a Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, announced the Penguin update on the Google Webmaster Blog. Here is what we know. Penguin is now a core function of the ranking algorithm…
Search Engine Strategies Conference Shuts Down
It was reported earlier this week by Barry Schwartz (Rusty Brick Consulting and Search Engine Roundtable) and Bill Hartzer that Search Engine Strategies – the series of SEO conferences started by industry pioneer Danny Sullivan back in the late 1990s – and ClickZ Live Events are no more. While the ClickZLive site (https://www.clickzlive.com/events) is still online, the SES conference…
The link between SEO and Social: Is it real or imagined?
While it’s true that an SEO campaign isn’t likely to do anything that will boost exposure on social media, the reverse isn’t true. A social media campaign will have a direct impact on an SEO campaign. The important thing to understand that there isn’t a causal relationship between social and search. But there is a…
Windows 10 Redstone Update Causes Lenovo Laptops to Brick
On Tuesday evening, after a great presentation at WIX Lounge in NYC, my almost 2 year old Gen 3 Lenovo X1 Carbon running Windows 10 did an automatic update to Windows 10 Redstone. I didn’t ask for this. It just happened. And when I sat down at my desk on Wednesday morning the laptop was…
The Future of Search
How yesterday’s science fiction has become today’s reality. In his keynote address at SMX West this morning, Beshad Behzadi (Google’s Director of Conversational Search) opened with two video clips. The first – from a 1960’s episode of Star Trek – showed Captain Kirk (William Shatner) asking the ship’s computer for information on two different people. The second was a trailer from the…
Google Travel Search Changes
Recently, Barry Schwartz wrote an article on Search Engine Land entitled “Google Revamps Travel Search Queries, Almost Making Web Results Irrelevant” about a change in the UI that makes it harder to see web based search results. Barry points out that the changes make it “…really hard…” to get back to the organic web results after you click the “more…
Google Updates Webmaster Guidelines
Google Updates Their Webmaster Guidelines If you’re not an SEO professional, you’re probably asking yourself, “Why do Google’s Webmaster Guidelines matter to me?” The answer is quite simple: Following Google’s Webmaster Guidelines “…will help Google find, index, and rank your site.” And that’s a good thing. If there’s any doubt as to how important these changes…
Is There A Right Time to Think About SEO?
Before you answer, I should tell you that this is a trick question. There really isn’t a “right” time because if you’re going to do SEO properly, the right time is all the time. So maybe the better question is, is there a wrong time to think about SEO. The answer to that question is easy. Yes, there is a…
Can Any Inbound Linking Hurt My Ranking?
The answer to this question used to be a simple “no”. However that is not longer the case. What your inbound link profile looks like – how many links you have coming into your web site as well as the authority and trust value those links come from – can and will influence your sites…
10 Great Sources for Business Blogging Ideas
Recently, I decided that I needed to focus on posting more business blogging. The problem was that, while I’m not a bad writer, I have trouble thinking about things to write about. So my wife did a little research on the subject to help me along. The first link she gave me was to a…
Local Lighthouse Sued for Impersonating Google
At one point or another, if you’re a business owner, you’ve probably received a robocall call that goes something like this: “It’s extremely urgent that we speak to the business owner! We’ve tried to reach you numerous times. Our records indicate that your Google Business Listing has not been claimed…” The caller on the other…
International SEO Considerations
Paying attention to a few details before you roll out that new web site can make a big difference with your international SEO efforts You’ve done your due diligence. You have selected the countries where your company has a solid business opportunity; you’ve picked out your products and services; you’ve designed your web site and made sure that…
Thoughts on SMX West 2015
There’s a reason I never miss an SMX conference in the US. They are far and away the best SEO focused conferences out there. That’s mostly because Danny Sullivan, Chris Sherman and the whole team at Third Door Media do an amazing job with the programming. But it’s also because SMX brings together some of the best…
Best Practices for SEO: 2015 Edition
What Makes Us Different When we started optimizing web sites for organic search, it was a fairly simple task: Figure out the subjects you want to rank for Identify the keywords related to those subjects Create some content around those subjects Put the keywords into the title, meta description and meta keywords fields Sprinkle the…